Hardware Asus OC Station Review

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2009/08/06/asus-oc-station-review/1

Hardware overclocking gadgets are more often than not a load of pants. However, with Asus' Republic of Gamers brand starting to build a bit of a reputation for making usable kit for enthusiasts, we thought we'd get in their new front-panel overclocking gizmo to see if it's up to snuff.

 

At first it seems a lot of money but its pretty packed with features. Its a real shame it isn't universal.

 

Lets face it, if you are buying a Republic of Gamers motherboard and no doubt a high end CPU / memory combo to go with it then you are 'loaded & minted' in the first place. Another £110 for this on top is quite frankly... peanuts.

If I owned a ROG board, then I would consider this. For general overclockers though (like me).. once the overclock is done then it just gets left that way.... for ever ! I could potentially make use of a 'quiet mode' profile though...

 

But BIOS tweaking gives me back childhood memories! Why would I want to avoid that?

 

just tested this on Crosshair III Formula; it works pretty well. Its not just an OC station but a fan controller as well. The fan header with thermal sensor header on the motherboard works with this, too.

Btw, I'm also a reviewer from a local review site in the Philippines.

 

It actually sounds quite decent.
They should bundle it with a ROG board at a discounted price. So maybe a Asus Rampage II Extreme + OC Station for £300.

 

I wonder if it could be modded to work from an interal USB header with some custom software, if only to use it as a fanbus and to use the screen for displaying pictures and video (if fast enough).

 

I don't see the point.

 

I've not got started with overclocking yet (it'll happen soon, though!) Once I have, I think I would only be interested in something like this if it could be used on all future motherboards - or at least all the high-end ones - not just the one I had at the time. They might want to re-think the wording on that screenshot though, inviting you to locate an extra fan "at backside"!

 

That seems a little... draconian.

 

£100+ for this ....

......or 30 mins in the BIOS and less than a tenner on a fan controller.

.....hmmm

 

why would you want to fit something that looks like a 1980s hif-fi to the front of your PC?

 

Pah, I have wire OCD so this would never make it into one of my systems lol

 

Because the 80s were the best!!

 

I just purchased a ROG board, the rampage II gene, does not mean I am laoded, I am far from it, a poor studant. THe product does seem pointless though, the whole point of ROG boards is they provide a excellent platform for bios overclocking, so you dont need somthing like this.

 

"However, while BIOS overclocking is the best option (you can’t disable Spread Spectrum with the OC Station"

What difference does spread spectrum make?

 

hum, it allows reading of temperature prob on the motherboard/CPU, and it allows to adjust fan speeds.......
does it allow to set automatic fan profiles, such that the fans connected to it will speed up when system temperature goes up?

i'd buy without heartbeat for a cheaper (£30 to 40 range) version with the above feature.

 

There is a reason the 80's are dead.

 

Would have been nice to see the OCing part of this device in action compared to traditional bios tweaking and what not, versus just saying what you achieved.

 

So what the heck does this thing actually DO?